W9WDX

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I've heard one bad thing about these radios. In particular, the MOSFET finals are very weak and prone to failure/meltdown if any peaking of the amp circuit is done. A LOT of people have tried to extract most of the available power from the finals, and nearly ALL of them had failures. The factory warranty WILL NOT COVER this kind of peaking as well. I understand that they covered the first bunch of radios that were peaked by those distributors.

The heat sink on this radio doesn't look that it could handle more than 200 watt dissipation. Another clue to keep it turned down to the factory specs! The small heat sink fan it employs isn't exactly its strong suit - either. Looks like the same heat sink/fan ass'y as the Galaxy 95T2; but that amp used 2290's if I'm not mistaken.

MOSFET's may be able to put out more power than bipolar transistors; but they don't handle peak power as well. Even the Magnum radios are susceptible to these kinds of failures. If you have MOSFET finals in any radio - give them some 'breathing' space - so that they don't fail on you. In other words, it is better to run them at 2/3 peak capacity in order for the whole radio to stay out of the shop for repairs.

>tongue 'n cheek<
I don't know why they chose the IRF-520's for this radio. Probably because they are actually a pretty inexpensive device. The IRF-520's are supposed to have more power capacity than the ERF-2030's. But given a choice, I would go with the ERF/EKL's. I'm sure that RangerUSA didn't want to depend on Magnum Int'l/RF Limited/EKL to get their supply of parts. Conflict of interests - maybe? lol!

Seriously...
I like the green on black change/LCD.
Can it be changed? I noticed the yellow background in one of the vids.
Hope they made the receive as nice as you claim too.

From what I've heard the majority of radios that had failures that been overtuned by cb "techs", and Ranger did warranty many of these.

Now there were some that had failures just due to mosfets being mosfets and I think RCI would agree the mosfets are more delicate in many ways than other transistors but with cost of the 2879's and the fact they are scheduled to be discontinued and the issues with the underpowered Toshiba 2290's the manufacturers are having to do what they can.

Cost always plays a role as well.

Now that being said if these radios are run moderately (no whackpacking ) they shouldn't have any problems and the output is definitely impressive. I did some testing from the mobile last night and the signal the radio put on my base from 20 miles away in the mobile was pretty crazy. I also tested it out last night with a station 35 miles to the south and he said I was putting a very good signal on him - although my audio on SSB was a little quiet (stock microphone). On AM I did try adjusting the AMC to max for interest sake and it got real loud...to the point that it was wayy overmodulated. I've messed around with quite a few 2950/2970's and on AM the N2 seems to have more modulation with the stock mike than the other versions. I had to back the AMC off quite bit after turning it up to reduce the distortion and just get the clean loud audio.

I really like the black face and I did find that from the angles it is easier to read - now its still not perfect, but I think it is an improvement over the green/black.

So it must be true of the claims that the IRF-520 device is good for 50 watts each. Hmmm. I see the heat sink issue to be part of the problem. That being said, I can see that they may change out the 'low profile' type heat sink and provide something with a little more meat on its bones - so to speak. Maybe a better heat sink compound would help too. I know a few locals that had bought the Magnum 257's - and then added a small computer fan to the heatsink - attaching it with drywall inserts. The RFX-75 may be able to produce 120 watts as some claim; but safer to run it no more than 75-80 watts. Ya gotta do - what ya gotta do...

I know a few people that use a Turner+3 on these radios with very nice results. They also adjusted the AMC on it as well.

Did you say that they fixed the white noise problem that it had?

You didn't say if the color of the LCD screen could be changed to another color?

It definitely will get warm but it doesn't get hot. The heatsink runs cooler than the omegaforce hp to the touch. Now I also have it tuned to hit 200 on AM and SSB and I know others are really pushing it. I don't think 520's are capable of 50 except in the lab maybe.

Color is black with green and that's it as far as I can tell.

Board is basically the same so sure you could unlock the clarifer but no reason to on these models.

White noise is better from what I can tell. I tuned the receive section a bit and you can get them pretty quiet without compromising signals too much.

So it must be true of the claims that the IRF-520 device is good for 50 watts each. Hmmm. I see the heat sink issue to be part of the problem. That being said, I can see that they may change out the 'low profile' type heat sink and provide something with a little more meat on its bones - so to speak. Maybe a better heat sink compound would help too. I know a few locals that had bought the Magnum 257's - and then added a small computer fan to the heatsink - attaching it with drywall inserts. The RFX-75 may be able to produce 120 watts as some claim; but safer to run it no more than 75-80 watts. Ya gotta do - what ya gotta do...

I know a few people that use a Turner+3 on these radios with very nice results. They also adjusted the AMC on it as well.

Did you say that they fixed the white noise problem that it had?

You didn't say if the color of the LCD screen could be changed to another color?

The design specification for the 8 mosfet exciter is 65 watts max deadkey on AM and swing max 200 watts. Why someone thinks they are smarter than the electrical engineers who designed the amp section is beyond any reasonable thought. Also there is a maximum duty cycle for using max power because the fan section stops running every time you key up the RCI. In the service manual they advise no more than 10 seconds at a time while tuning the transmitter at max power and test modulation. From this information, it would be wise not to key up at max 65 watts dead key and modulate at 100% for more than 10 seconds. In normal speaking rate average modulation will be far less. I certainly wouldn't play a 5 minute loud music piece over the transceiver at max power, much less scream into the mic for that long. So for normal use, I gather that the transceiver will last indefinitely if working normal speech at normal intervals at full power in room temperature. I've done this with the same amp section in another RCI radio and the transceiver gets warm but never hot.
The RCI is made to a tight high technology specification down to the last switch and knob, something you won't find in any export these days, including Galaxy, save for the common shared sections like the amp and echo board, etc with RCI. Used according to design spec, The RCI radios will outperform their competition in quality audio, stability, receiver quietness and sensitivity, and refinement in the human interface (knobs, buttons, etc.). RCI has the edge all around, its just that the users are demanding much more than the already stellar performance of the RCI radios. Overdoing something that already beats the competition is rediculous. You already have the absolute best in exports when you choose an RCI. To push the envelope further is like fighting a ghost, a non existing competitor. The challenge to push the radio further is best left with its designers and engineers and engineering techs that made this. Golden screwdriver types are doing something like putting nitrous on a McLaren F-1 ~ the refined design cannot accomodate this quasi detuning without breaking. The tolerances are high and should not be disturbed without thorough re-engineering. JMO

After only 6 weeks of use, my N2 just shut off n died, I taking it to the shop that Sold it to me on Monday n see whats up, I hope warranty Does cover it, i haven't touch it at all, I didn't even took off the screws.

If it is the mosfets that got messed up, r there are any other that i can replace the stock ones to better ones?

The design specification for the 8 mosfet exciter is 65 watts max deadkey on AM and swing max 200 watts. Why someone thinks they are smarter than the electrical engineers who designed the amp section is beyond any reasonable thought. Also there is a maximum duty cycle for using max power because the fan section stops running every time you key up the RCI. In the service manual they advise no more than 10 seconds at a time while tuning the transmitter at max power and test modulation. From this information, it would be wise not to key up at max 65 watts dead key and modulate at 100% for more than 10 seconds. In normal speaking rate average modulation will be far less. I certainly wouldn't play a 5 minute loud music piece over the transceiver at max power, much less scream into the mic for that long. So for normal use, I gather that the transceiver will last indefinitely if working normal speech at normal intervals at full power in room temperature. I've done this with the same amp section in another RCI radio and the transceiver gets warm but never hot.
The RCI is made to a tight high technology specification down to the last switch and knob, something you won't find in any export these days, including Galaxy, save for the common shared sections like the amp and echo board, etc with RCI. Used according to design spec, The RCI radios will outperform their competition in quality audio, stability, receiver quietness and sensitivity, and refinement in the human interface (knobs, buttons, etc.). RCI has the edge all around, its just that the users are demanding much more than the already stellar performance of the RCI radios. Overdoing something that already beats the competition is rediculous. You already have the absolute best in exports when you choose an RCI. To push the envelope further is like fighting a ghost, a non existing competitor. The challenge to push the radio further is best left with its designers and engineers and engineering techs that made this. Golden screwdriver types are doing something like putting nitrous on a McLaren F-1 ~ the refined design cannot accomodate this quasi detuning without breaking. The tolerances are high and should not be disturbed without thorough re-engineering. JMO

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